Choose your hero: the four kinds of show hero
Every show has a hero, and you are it. But there are four different ways a show can carry its hero, and the one you pick changes how every episode is built and how people see you. Read this first. Your pick is at the bottom.
Why your hero type matters
Two shows can be about the same person and feel nothing alike. In one, viewers look up to you. In another, they root for you. In a third, they trust you to take them somewhere. Which one happens is decided before anyone films, by your hero type.
Your hero type decides three things:
- How each episode is built. What happens in the first minute, what the stakes are, and how it ends.
- How you come off. The expert, the underdog on the way up, the guide, or the one who goes and finds out.
- How the Five Feelings show up. The Underdog, your Special Gift, the Struggle, your Special Method and the Payoff Example land in different places for each type. Your season arc is built on your pick.
The four heroes
🏆 The Established Hero
You already did it. The show catches people up.
You have the skill and the results. The season fills viewers in on what you have already done, through flashbacks and people who knew you then, while every episode shows you doing it again, today.
- Viewers feel
- Respect. They look up to you.
- Each episode
- You walk into a problem and solve it with your skill. Someone else's before and after is the ending.
- Shows like it
- Bar Rescue, Kitchen Nightmares, Cake Boss
- Best when
- You have results you can show and people who will say so on camera.
- Watch out
- No stakes means boring, and boring plus expert means bragging. Every episode needs something that could go wrong today.
🔥 The Transformation Hero
You are not there yet. The camera watches you get there.
You have a goal you have not reached: the first big launch, the comeback, the new body, the first hundred customers. The season is the climb, on camera, with a finish line and a date.
- Viewers feel
- Loyalty. They root for you and come back to see if you make it.
- Each episode
- One step toward the goal, one setback, one step. Ends on where you stand now.
- Shows like it
- The Biggest Loser, Queer Eye (from the guest's side)
- Best when
- You are in the middle of a real change and you are willing to let people see the hard part.
- Watch out
- The goal must be real, measurable and dated. We plan for a miss: the finale shows the honest number, and the struggle is the show either way.
🎤 The Host
The show is about an idea. You carry it to people.
You are the conduit. Every episode has new people in it, and you are the one who brings out their stories and ties them to the idea the show is about. Your own story comes in small pieces.
- Viewers feel
- Trust. You are their guide, and they come back for the format.
- Each episode
- New guests, the same segments in the same order, and a moment at the end people wait for.
- Shows like it
- Hot Ones, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, Pop the Balloon
- Best when
- Your topic is bigger than you, you are good with people, and you want episodes every week without a big crew.
- Watch out
- You can disappear behind the guests. Say your skill out loud every episode, so people know why you are the one asking.
🧭 The Explorer
You go somewhere people have not been, and bring something back.
You go into the unknown: a place, a question, an industry, a test. You document it and come back with something the viewer can use.
- Viewers feel
- Curiosity. They come for the find.
- Each episode
- One question, the trip, the find, the test, and the thing you bring back.
- Shows like it
- Parts Unknown, Expedition Unknown, MythBusters
- Best when
- Your business is finding things out: sourcing, travel, investigating, testing what works.
- Watch out
- The unknown can come back empty. That is why we build the explorer show to a fixed shape (below).
- One question per episode, written before we go.
- Booked before we go: the place, the person and the time. The answer is unknown. The plan is not.
- The same five beats every time: the question, the go, the find, the test, the bring-back.
- A floor: if the find falls flat, the test still happens on camera, and the honest result is the episode.
- Three sure episodes first. We film three with a known answer before any wild one.
- The bring-back is always usable, and it points to your offer.
Side by side
| Established | Transformation | Host | Explorer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viewers feel | Respect | Loyalty | Trust | Curiosity |
| The question that brings them back | Can they fix this one? | Will they make it? | Who is next? | What did they find? |
| Who changes | The other person | You | The guests | What we know |
| Easiest to film | Medium | Medium, needs a real goal | Easiest, weekly | Hardest, needs travel and booking |
| Sells best | Done-for-you and high-ticket | Programs that copy your climb | Community and memberships | Guides, picks and finds |
Which one is you
Answer these four out loud. The first clear yes is usually your type.
- Do you already have results you can show, and people who will say so? The Established Hero.
- Are you in the middle of a big change right now, with a finish line you could put a date on? The Transformation Hero.
- Is your topic bigger than you, and are you at your best bringing other people out? The Host.
- Is your business about going and finding out? The Explorer.
Two yeses? Pick the one you could film every week for 90 days without running out. Not sure? Pick, then tell us why in the note. We talk it through on your next call before we build your season arc.
Your pick
Show names mentioned here belong to their creators and are used only as teaching examples. RealityShow.com is not connected to them.